Bees
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Bees are social insects with important agricultural applications. In addition to acting as pollinators for a large variety of flowering plants, they produce honey, a nutritious foodstuff which has been used since ancient times for its antibacterial and antifungal properties.
Hazards
- Bees are sensitive to certain odours, including that of mowed grass, pulled weeds, harvested carrots and especially manure and compost. They may become irritable and prone to sting under such influences.[1]
Varieties of honeybee
- The Western honeybee, apis mellifera, has the following subspecies of interest:
- The Italian honeybee, apis mellifera lingustica, is large and golden yellow with a very mild temper.[1] It is the honeybee most often kept in the USA.[2]
- The Carniolan honeybee, apis mellifera carnica, please describe . It is the second most widely kept bee in the USA.[2]
- The Caucasian honeybee, apis mellifera caucasica, please describe.
- The dark European honeybee, apis mellifera mellifera, is native to the British Isles and adapted to warmer winters and colder summers than the Carniolan, Caucasian and Italian bees. Except under such conditions, it will tend to produce less honey than those breeds.[2]
- The African honeybee, apis mellifera scutellata/apis mellifera adansonii, has a brownish yellow striped abdomen. It is aggressive relative to the European honeybees.[1] The subspecies name A. m. adansonii appears to stem from a misclassification of what is actually A. m. scutellata.
- The Cape honeybee, apis mellifera capensis, has an almost completely black abdomen. It has a reputation for aggression, even relative to the African honeybee, although Beyleveld feels that this is unwaranted. Cape honeybees workers have the ability, unique amongst all honeybee workers, to lay eggs which will fully develop into other worker bees.[1]
Open issues
- How large could a self-sustaining colony grow before the need for insect pollinators becomes critical for sufficient food production?
- Can bees be transported from Earth to Mars, alive?
- How great would the dangers to astronauts be if a colony of stinging honeybees were so transported? Or, would a stingless honeybee be suitable?
